


Spiral of Death

by murphysarc



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, Chaptered, Death, F/F, Fantasy, Future, Futuristic, Gen, Original work - Freeform, Romance, Science Fiction, Superpowers, Teen Fiction, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 05:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1333567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murphysarc/pseuds/murphysarc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faith has no last name. She's just another person trying to survive in a dystopic future where the classes of people are clearly laid out; there are rich and poor, and that is all. And she's okay with that. Well, until she's kidnapped, thrust out of her element...and until she meets Mia, who shows her that maybe it's okay to be different after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Let me tell you a story.

"A story?" you say in disbelief. "I'm not in the mood for a story. Stories are for kids."

I don't mean a fairy tale. I hate fairy tales, myself. So full of happy endings, cheerful thoughts and false pretenses. So no, I'm not going to start with "Once upon a time." And this is definitely not going to end with "Happily ever after." Because, news flash: life doesn't work that way.

It never has.

This story has a beginning that I need to go over. One that's not written by me; no, it's about Elena. In a sense, everything is about Elena. But the year is 2867, and Elena is six.

Six-year-old Elena Johnson is playing in a soccer field in Elysium. Her three friends are with her; Tom, Fane, and Georgia. They're all playing with a new soccer ball but Elena's staring out across the field, looking over the Slums. "Why are some of us rich and some of us poor?" she asks her friends, who stop playing and join her side.

Elena's always been the smart one. She's always been quiet, and even at her young age she tends to notice things. Like, she knows whatever remains of the world is divided into three things; Elysium, the Slums, and the Cage. The Factory, which Elena knows is the source of all power on the planet, is between Elysium and the Slums.

She knows that there is no middle class. If you were rich, then you lived in Elysium, with working electricity, hot water, expensive clothes and plenty of friends. Weapons were banned in Elysium. Nobody had to work. If you were poor, you lived in the Slums, with next to no electricity, water that made you sick a lot of the time, and no friends. It was illegal not to carry a weapon there and there were no laws; killing someone didn't mean a thing. You went to work in the Factory and got paid almost nothing.

Though, she doesn't quite understand the Cage. She'd been told the "sick" people go there, the ones who have "Changed," whatever that means. She's seen a couple people going there - their skin gets this black colour and their eyes and hair change as well. They're always violent and they don't seem to speak Native (the common tongue.) Nobody from Elysium goes to the Cage - only people from the Slums do.

But what she really doesn't get is why the Factory, the point between Elysium and the Slums, has a barbed wire fence around it with guarded entrances and exits. The Cage is supposedly fenced in as well, but Elena's never been there - she's not allowed. Curious as she is, she's not one to disobey her parent's rules.

"That's just how it is," Tom scoffs. He's ten years old and seven-year-old Georgia is his sister. Even Elena listens to Tom; he's older, so what he says must be true, right?

"I guess," Elena replies. She doesn't want to argue with Tom, not after he let her play with his friends. So she quickly changes the topic, "Who won?"

"I did!" Seven-year-old Fane yells proudly.

"Yeah, because I let you, squirt," Tom says, ruffling Fane's feathery hair. Even though Tom's young himself, he's very protective over Fane and nobody knows why. "Now, though, I think it's time to do something exciting…"

"But…soccer is exciting," Georgia pipes up. She's always been quiet - not slightly withdrawn, like Elena, just shy.

"No way, George-y," Tom says playfully, using the nickname he gave his sister that she hates. Of course, everyone uses it.

"Well, what is it?" Elena asks. She's quick to interrupt the sibling's banter before they get in trouble for fighting. Even play-fights aren't allowed in Elysium, and Tom and Georgia have already been given one warning.

Three warnings and you get exiled to the Slums.

There are no warnings in the Slums. There are no laws in the Slums.

"You all know the Factory, right?" Tom asks, meeting every pair of eyes. "Well, I want to explore it."

"But…" Fane's eyes go wide when he realizes the impact of Tom's idea. "We're not allowed there!"

"That's the point," Tom exclaims. "I'm curious."

Elena knows that's not being curious. That's being reckless.

Georgia starts shaking her head madly and Elena can't help but agree. Although she says nothing, she's yelling at Tom to change his mind. Because she knows if everyone goes with him, which they will, they won't care about her. She'll have to go with them too, because she doesn't want to be alone.

"C'mon!" Tom cries. Elena can tell Fane doesn't want to but he nods and goes to stand by Tom's side. They both look pointedly at Elena and Georgia.

Thankfully, Georgia speaks up. "What if we get caught though?"

"We won't," Fane says naturedly. "Right, Tom?"

"Right, squirt," Tom says confidently. "We'll be just fine as long as we stay hidden and keep away from the workers."

"What do they put in the Factory?" Georgia asks softly. Elena can see Tom is swaying her mind, just like she knew he would.

"Energy!" Fane says proudly.

"Right," Tom continues. "The energy that powers our houses or something. But I want to find out for sure! Now let's go. Or are you…chicken?" He says the last word gingerly, like he can't believe Georgia or Elena could be chicken.

"No!" Georgia cries. "I'll go. Elena, come on."

And just like that, the three of them cross the field and head towards the Factory.

Elena can see the huge smokestacks in the distance and if she listens, she can hear the whirring of the machinery. It's a sound she's used to. But she doesn't want to hear it up close. She's not allowed to…

But she can't be alone. Something inside her hates being isolated and separated from other people and she just can't bear it. She has no choice. She takes off running and follows her friends towards the Factory.

They get there quickly, mostly because they're running the entire time. Elena doesn't know why they're so excited - it's just the Factory. What, Tom wants to see energy being produced? It sounds boring to Elena.

But they reach the barbed wire fences, and somehow Tom has his parents' key cards (his parents co-own the Factory. Tom's family is one of the richest in Elysium) and he swipes them, letting the group in. Nobody questions anything.

The workers from the Slums are all inside the facility, so there's no chance of being caught…yet. "Hey!" Fane whispers suddenly. "What're those?"

Elena looks to where he's pointing. About a hundred metal containers of processed energy are lying beside the fence, ready to be collected and picked up. Elena's seen these before, only because her parents work as delivery workers. It's not the best job in Elysium, but it's enough to keep them out of the Slums.

"Yeah, I wanna look those," Georgia pleads, looking over at Tom, who shrugs and waves her off. Before Elena can react Georgia grabs her arm and pulls her over.

"Wow," Fane gasps, "That's where our energy comes from?"

"You bet," Tom says. He's lounging against the fence, not a care in the world.

"Can we go?" Elena asks quietly, not wanting to make a scene. She's petrified of being caught, but still not brave enough to leave on her own.

"I still want to explore more -" Tom's in the midst of explaining when a Factory worker comes outside, holding another processed energy container. His eyes widen when he sees us and he drops the container, his hand flying to his pocket.

Elena knows he has a "gun." She's never seen one, but most people in the Slums (and this worker lives there) carry one with them. She vaguely remembers her parents telling her in the 26th century weapons got so advanced that the government at that time destroyed the lethal ones. Of course guns are lethal but of course there are laws against killing -

But then Elena realizes. They're not in Elysium anymore. The Factory is neutral territory, but that man is from the Slums.

There are no rules in the Slums.

"What're you kids doing here?" the worker cries. "Get out! Go back to your posh homes, to your fancy lives!"

Elena's quaking in her boots but she doesn't move; Georgia's still got a grip on her arm and she won't let go. Fane goes to stand by Tom, who walks over to the man. "No," Tom says, and immediately Elena knows it's a mistake. "You can't make us."

And then the gun is drawn and it's being pointed in Tom's face. "Get. Out," the worker hisses, nudging Tom backwards with the gun's barrel.

Tom's shaking in fear now, and he slowly steps backwards. "When my family hears about this -"

"That's it, kid." The worker shrugs and then the safety is popped and the trigger is drawn. Silent cries escape everyone's mouths as the older boy drops to the ground, suddenly lifeless.

And then Fane's gone, off running. Elena feels tears sliding down her cheeks and she's pulling away from Georgia who won't move, who can't move…

"Get lost, kid!" the worker yells and points the gun at Georgia.

Georgia still doesn't move. Just as the crack of the gun goes off Elena knows what she has to do. Suddenly she's running towards Georgia and she pushes her friend away…

And then she's shot and she's lying on the ground, bleeding out and she's not sure why. Her mind's going hazy and she knows she's dying but she doesn't seem to care…

More shots are fired and then suddenly the worker curses extremely loudly and then he's running away and it's just the dying Elena and Georgia.

"Elena, I'm sorry!" a tear-eyed Georgia yells and then she's gone too and Elena's alone just like she was afraid of.

But she's not alone. Something is running down her arm and she groggily looks over at it. Bright, sun-colored liquid is falling out of the containers and leaking onto her skin.

And then suddenly the liquid is going into her shoulder wound, mixing with her blood and going through her veins. As Elena's life is slipping away, bucketfuls of the stuff enters her body and fills her bloodstream.

And then Elena's heart stops.

All is silent for a little while.

And then Elena's heart starts again.

Her eyes snap open and for a moment she's not sure where she is. Her brain is whirring a thousand thoughts a second and everything seems strange and out of focus.

Suddenly, it all changes.

In a flash, her eyes change from olive to a bright golden and she can suddenly see farther and clearer. Her brown hair glows and then becomes golden as well, literally shining. Although she doesn't know it, golden swirls and spirals tattoo themselves onto her face, her arms, her legs, hands and feet, showing exactly where the energy fell and soaked into her skin.

And she's older as well.

She's got six years of memory, but then her mind and body changes and suddenly she looks twenty and has the wise mind of an elder. She knows things she shouldn't know, remembers things her grandparents weren't alive to see. The idea of Elysium and the Slums seems foolish to her.

In fact, it's so foolish that she leaves the Factory and tries to find her way to the Cage, to free the people who have Changed. They don't deserve to be there. She can't explain why, but Elena feels a connection to them and she knows they can't be all bad.

She makes it to the Cage but it's as if the inhabitants knew she was coming. The guards don't want her to go through, but she simply tells them to let her in and, as if in a trance, they do. She doesn't know why but it doesn't seem important.

But as soon as she enters Changed swarm her, crowd her, suffocate her. She tries to tell them she's here to help but they don't listen…they won't listen.

They're growling to each other, saying things like "join together" and "she's too Changed." The most common is "Too much energy, made her good."

Even with her new mind, Elena doesn't understand.

And then a blue glow surrounds the Cage, filling it with light. Elena's immediately attracted to it and she doesn't know why…the light seems dangerous but it's too compelling not to look at it…

Just as she's too far gone she realizes what the light is. She understands everything. The Changed absorbed energy, like she did. It made them sick and it gave them abilities, like the power to call up this light. It gave Elena the ability to persuade the human guards to let her in.

But the Changed here didn't get enough energy. They got confused, a sort of hybrid species that no one could figure out. And they don't like Elena - she wasn't like them. She's too powerful.

The light itself is a trap. Once she stares into it, she feels her mind shut down. Something about the magic inside it forces her to stare deeper and deeper into it, until she's caught in a hopeless web of light.

She tries to look away but her eyes are glued to the image. The Changed around her begin to laugh, a maniac, cackling laugh, but a laugh. Elena can't think all of a sudden. All that matters is the light. All that matters…

Her eyes slam shut and she feels herself fall to the ground. Just before she blacks out, she knows it will be a long time before she wakes up again…

"Great story," you say. "Can I go now?"

No. No, you can't, because the story is far from over.

That was just the Prologue. Weren't you paying attention? That was just Elena's story. No, no it's time to talk about the future.

That all happened in 2867. I was born in the year 3435. Let's begin in 3451, when I was sixteen.

Oh, yeah. This isn't just about me. This is about Mia, too. We can't forget about Mia. No, definitely not…

My name is Faith. No last name. Just Faith.

And this is my story.

 


	2. Chapter One

So now I've told you all about Elena. Are you excited for more? Are you on the edge of your seat?

Good.

Because I'm not just telling you a story anymore.

What I'm about to write did happen. Well, in my world it did. In yours…? Well, that's to be decided, isn't it? Here's hoping I sway you with that decision.

Mia's here as well. She's sitting beside me but…I don't know how long she's got. Actually, I don't know how long I've got. Technically I could drop at any second, but let's hope that doesn't happen.

I'm being too dramatic. The one thing I was afraid of doing was making this sound so dramatic that you turned away.

Please, please, don't turn away.

Like I said, let's begin in the year 3451. I'm sixteen. I never thought I'd make it to sixteen. Maybe it would've been easier if I didn't…

So read on, discover your future, and pray that I'm wrong.

But I'm not.

A long time ago, after the Oil Wars finally ended and the population was cut by half, "Life Source" was finally discovered. Instead of using oil and minerals, we could now combine a tiny bit of very common materials and make energy that way. It was called Life Source because it could even nourish a human being.

About a hundred years ago, all food was eliminated. The only thing we ate was a Life Source tablet, and that fed us for a whole day.

And then something very, very strange happened.

Since humans were all ingesting this Life Source every day for their whole lives, eventually our bodies changed. The combined minerals just warped our DNA beyond recognizable.

Humans got these things called Abilities. Do you know what superheroes are? Mia's told me about some of the ancient ones, ones she found in "comic books" in the museums, like Superman, Batman, the Green Lantern and Captain America.

Tell me this, 21st century; why are they all male?

Anyways, we got Abilities that made us like superheroes, except we didn't exactly try to save the world. It was too far gone at that point. There are five different types of Abilities, and we're all born with them; there are Elemental (power to control elements), Mental (you had an IQ powerful enough for telekinesis and things like that), Physical (super strength, super speed, etc.), Spatial (you could make objects and change shape) and Time (time travel.) Time was extremely rare…and quite dangerous.

For a time, everything worked.

But the Life Source wasn't all good. Sometimes, the Life Source changed your body so much that your organs mutated and your blood ran cold and you…

No. You didn't die. Duh. What, you think I was going to list a dramatic chain of events just to say "you die?" Seriously, don't be so morbid.

No, you don't die.

You Change.

It happens to factory workers. It happens to people who eat too many tablets. Sometimes, it just happens. Studies (done by random people on the street, mind you) have shown that only people with Substance, Physical and Time Abilities Changed, but nobody knows why.

Sorry, but knowing that fact gave me a little piece of mind, especially after my parents (both Substance) Changed. When you Changed, these black tattoos ran down your body and covered you. Your eyes turned black and you became so inhuman that they took you to the Cage.

I'm sure you've figured it out. It's just a pen with barbed wire around it, like a zoo. That, in itself, is inhumane, letting the Changed live.

Mia's telling me that's enough and to get on with it.

Well, make up your mind, woman.

Okay. Buckle up, I guess. That is if you still use that expression. My deepest apologies if I'm judging the time wrong and you have absolutely no clue what this means.

Oh, screw it. Here we go.

The cobblestone street was cracked, as always. Carefully, I walked along the "safest" path, stepping to avoid cracks because, in the Slums, a crack could mean so much more.

Seriously, one misstep, and the whole street caves in.

I could see my home at the end of the street, one shack lined up next to about twenty more. Some homes had more than ten people living in them; luckily, mine only had two.

Someone grabbed my shoulder but I knew better than to turn around. All I did was draw my knife and thrust it backwards, feeling as it sunk into warm flesh. The man who had grabbed me gasped, and quickly his faltering footsteps ran the other way.

I scoffed quietly. Amateur.

I'd heard rumours about how, in the mystical place called Elysium, what I just did would be considered an "felony" and I'd be exiled to the Slums for eternity.

And in the Slums, you'd do it everyday.

Yeah. That season, I killed about a person a day. And I didn't think twice about it. I was born and raised in the slums, and I knew that was what it took to survive.

More people who lined the street stared at me as I confidently made my way down the street. I was a sixteen year old girl - most people my age didn't make it to adulthood. Things happened to teenagers.

Sometimes they were kidnapped. Sometimes they were killed. And sometimes they were sold into slavery as an attempt to get more tablets.

I wrapped my hand around the cracking door handle and carefully opened it, checking for any signs of intrusion. Luckily, today there weren't, and everything seemed to be in place.

"Amber?" I whispered, just in case she was sleeping after her day at work. I heard a small groan coming from the corner of the room, and I walked over, shutting the door behind me. Most of the light was then eliminated.

"Hey, Faith," she whispered. She was curled up on her straw mattress, one eye cracked open to look at me, the piercing blue orbs lighting up the room. "Scavenge anything today?"

I worked as a Scavenger for Earl, the forty year old man a few blocks away, finding him lesser available things in the bad parts of town. It wasn't a hard job; I just had to be careful and make sure Earl didn't turn on me. "Few tools," I muttered, handing her the tablet he'd given me as payment.

Amber snatched it and immediately gulped it down, her eyes lighting up a little as the Life Source fed her body. She sat up slowly, shaking her hands faster than I ever could; she had a Physical Ability, and super speed was one thing she was amazing at. Life Source fed our Abilities, strengthening them.

Then she stared at me, realization dawning in her eyes. "You didn't have one today, did you?" she said harshly, flipping over my wrist and seeing the telltale signs; the normally blue veins were now slightly purple hued.

Did I forget to mention that? You don't eat Life Source, and you Change as well.

But, to be honest, I was okay with Changing if it meant Amber would be okay. Her father had been exiled to the Slums when her mother was pregnant with her, and so the entire family had to bring her up in the Slums. They didn't know how to raise a child in these conditions, and they both Changed; I found Amber in an alleyway, on the verge of being Changed, and I just didn't have the heart to leave her there.

"You've gotta eat," she said sternly, standing up and trying to find a tablet for me, but I knew there weren't any. I made one a day, she made one a day, and something told me she'd already eaten hers.

"Tough day?" I asked her quietly, knowing she didn't like to talk about her job.

You probably want to know what she does, don't ya? Mia says to tell you. I don't want to. I really, really don't, because Amber isn't the only one in those conditions.

Amber works in a brothel. Look it up in a "dictionary." I'm not explaining.

She nodded once, still scurrying around the floor, searching for a tablet. I sighed and crawled over, putting one hand on her back and drawing her into my arms. "It's fine, hon. I'll eat tomorrow. One night isn't going to do anything."

She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "That's just it, Faith!" she practically wailed, and I had to rub her shoulders to make her calm down before anyone suspicious (aka, everybody. Even me) could come in when they heard a teenage girl. "You don't eat. I didn't even get a tablet today - "pay cuts" they told me. After five different clients, more than I've ever had to do, they didn't even pay me! And then you gave me your only pay…like you always do!"

"Hush," I told her sternly. "You have the harder job, don't you? Sometimes you come home at midnight, and sometimes you're not home for a week. I'm always going to be here, aren't I? So I have it easier. You deserve the food. It's not your fault you're here…"

It's nobody's fault they're here, after all.

Guess we're just born lucky.

Or, we're not.

Amber fell asleep soon afterwards, and I carried her over to the straw mattress, letting her curl up, digging her fists into the straw. I smiled softly, leaning myself against the wall.

My eyes were drooping shut, and for a moment, I thought I could avoid any aftereffects. I didn't have the telltale headache, and I certainly didn't have any muscle cramps, so maybe I wouldn't sleepwalk tonight.

That's something else I've missed. If you don't have any Life Source, the effects of the Change come out more prominently in your sleep, and you literally Change in your sleep. When you wake up, you're normal.

But you could be anywhere, with no clue how you got there.

So my eyelids shut, and I didn't notice the tattoos creeping up my body, my hair slowly losing it's colour, and I certainly didn't know I was getting up, growling in some strange language.

My eyes stayed firmly shut.

When I woke, I was standing in the middle of the cobbled street, my knife in my hand. A small trail of blood ran through my fingers, and I dimly realized I'd been holding the weapon by the blade.

Quickly I realized - I'd momentarily Changed.

"Damnit," I yelled, not even caring if anyone was listening to me. "Just…just god-freaking-damnit!"

Actually, I said something else, but I don't know how old you are and I don't want to taint your innocence…yet.

I gathered my bearings and slowly made my way back home, avoiding the throngs of disheveled looking people, who were ignoring me as well. I knew they were used to the night Changers. I certainly was.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I had a momentary flashback to when I'd stabbed the guy in the street who grabbed me, and I knew I'd do the same here. I ignored the searing pain in my hands and whipped the knife around, grabbing the handle, thrust it backwards…

Only to have my wrist grabbed and my arm bent behind my back. I groaned, and attempted a move to slither out of his grip, but I felt another pair of hands holding me down, forcing me to my knees.

"Let go of me!" I growled, but I knew it was hopeless. There were at least two people here, maybe three, and I was still weak from the momentary Change.

Instead of replying to me, the person holding my arm just bent it farther, causing a few tears to spring to my eyes. One of the men even laughed at me.

"Haven't eaten, have we?" he giggled, and I knew he was looking at the veins on my wrist, which were probably a deep purple, if not tinged with black.

I opened my mouth to say something and then quickly shut it. Idiot, I thought to myself. Damn, I'm so stupid.

Quickly, using my Elemental Ability, I opened up my hand and let a flicker of fire dance around on it. One of the men gasped and the hold on my wrist was relaxed slightly and I almost got free…

Until someone grabbed my shoulders, poured water onto my fiery hand, and someone else hit me over the head.

My eyesight swam and I felt myself losing consciousness - the last thing I heard before I passed out was a gruff man saying, "As an Elemental, don't fight another Elemental if he's got the upper hand."

Words of wisdom, right there, huh?

Too bad I wasn't awake to properly appreciate them.


	3. Chapter Three

Don't believe the stories, kids.

Wait. No. Don't believe the  _other_  books. This book is true and don't you forget that, okay?

What I mean, is people always describe coming back to consciousness as an easy process, and the (normally female) character will throw a hand to their head and gasp, "What happened? Where am I?"

Yeah…it don't work like that.

Things were coming into focus, and I could tell some things, but my eyesight was still swimming and I sounds were muffled. Dimly, I attempted to conjure some fire, but I was unsuccessful and I didn't know why.

"Get up," someone hissed at me. I was pretty sure it was a girl's voice. "C'mon! Hurry!"

My eyes blinked and focused slowly. I was in the back of a…a  _truck._ That might not seem weird to you, but in the Slums,  _nobody_  had trucks or vehicles of any kind. They were only in Elysium. Did that mean…? It was pretty dark, but there must've been a window somewhere, because I could still see who was trapped with me.

About five other girls were in the back with me. Their wrists were all tied together, and their feet were chained to the person next to them, so we all formed a long line. The girl next to me was trying to prod me awake with her elbow. Her bright blonde hair was falling in my face and her sparkling blue eyes stared at me. I raised my head and stared back.

"What?" I grumbled. I felt the chains tying my hands rub into my skin, and I tried to pull my feet together, but they were firmly tied to the girls next to me.

"The men are going to be back," she hissed.

"And if they see that you're out, well," another girl chuckled, "Then they're not going to be happy."

I nodded slightly, remembering the men who had knocked me out. "So," I mumbled, "Anyone know where we're going?"

The girl who had last spoken nodded. "Slave trading."

"That's a hell of a way to bring it up, Night," someone else snorted.

I shrugged. "Do you know where I come from?"

They all laughed at that, and I felt kinda pleased with myself.

"Anyways," the girl, Night, continued, "Yeah, I think it's slave trading."

"We're gonna be slaves?" I groaned, and momentarily my thoughts were of Amber. She'd be okay, she had to be, but I still didn't want to leave her without a goodbye.

But, I guess you just get used to that at one point.

"Yeah," another girl said, shrugging. "Figures. There's a business for it. My name's Lore, by the way."

"Faith," I replied.

I already knew Night; the girl who'd woken me shyly introduced herself as Mia, another girl told me her name was Thorn, and the last was called Silk.

No last name's were exchanged.

Chances were that none of us had one.

"Wait a minute," I said suddenly, realization occurring, "We're in a truck, yeah?"

"Good observation," Thorn said plainly, her black hair falling neatly around her shoulders. Honestly. If she was from the Slums, how was her hair so perfect?

"Thanks," I scoffed. "I mean, trucks are only in Elysium…there's slavery there? Don't they have, like,  _laws_  and stuff?"

"They do…I think," Night said. "At least, that's what I've been told…"

"Aren't there a lot of things like that in Elysium, though?" Lore asked, scanning us with her dark brown eyes. "Like, 'businesses' that aren't legal but everyone knows about anyways?"

"Can we change the name, then?" Silk piped up, her voice sounding heavily accented with what I like to call "grunge" talk. The  _particularly_ terrible parts of the Slums all had residents speaking that way. Luckily, I stayed out of there. "To, like, Land Ya Can Do Anythin' In?"

We all chuckled half heartedly. The drive was continued in silence for a while, until I tried to light a fire on my palm again…and failed, again. I sighed in frustration.

"That won't work," Lore spoke up. "I'm an Elemental, too. None of us have had any Life Source, so we can't use our Abilities."

"Well, are they going to  _give_  us Life Source, or do they want us to Change?" I muttered under my breath, but I was heard.

"Did you Change in your sleep?" Night asked me, leaning her head against the wall of the truck.

I nodded once.

Without warning, the truck lurched and stopped in its tracks. We all fell on top of each other, desperately raising our hands to avoid tangling the chain. There was another lurch and my head slammed into Mia's shoulder. She looked over and gave me a weak smile. She was obviously afraid, _too_  afraid for someone who had grown up in the Slums. I looked closer to her hands, and I saw that they were shaking. Her teeth were slightly chattering even though it wasn't cold.

In my eyes, that was a sign of weakness, and I knew that I wasn't going to like her.

But, I will admit, even her scared smile was kinda adorable.

The doors to the truck were flung open, flooding the area with light. Four men were standing there, postures slightly relaxed and bored expressions on their faces. I tried to squint through the light to make out individual faces, but I was unsuccessful.

"Get out," one of them barked roughly, and we were all forced to work an in sync as possible in order to get out while chained together.

We stepped out into a completely different world.

We were in the middle of a well-paved, concrete road, completely surrounded by houses.  _Actual houses._ Not the shacks we were all used to, but three story buildings, with functioning roofs and gardens, with real grass.

I'd only walked on real grass once.

The house the bright blue truck was parked in front of looked identical to the other ones, but it was massive. A pool was situated out front, along with a small vegetable garden and hedges cut into strange patterns. There was even a fountain. A freaking, goddamn fountain with cupids carved into the side.

The door to the mansion opened without a sound and I turned to see a woman standing there, hands on her hips and lips pursed. Clearly she was unimpressed as she scanned each and every one of us top to bottom. "This is all?" she shouted from the doorway. "That's all you can bring me? They look so…weak."

"Sorry, miss," one of the men said. "It's the Slums, do you expect body builders?"

She sighed, running a clean hand through even cleaner hair. "They'll have to do. Bring them in."

Just like that, without another explanation, the men grabbed Night (who was in the lead of our chain line) and pulled her towards the house, making the rest of us stumble over ourselves to keep up.

The whole time, Mia whimpered in my ear, her ragged breathing on my neck. I rolled my eyes as we all staggered forwards, praying that she would just wise up a little. Was she even from the Slums?

Yeah, that was rude of me to think, but honestly, how did she survive all her life? She must've had someone looking out for her, as I did Amber, that cared about her a lot. She must've been lucky.

Not lucky enough.

I gulped one more breath of fresh air into my lungs before I was shoved inside the threshold of the door. Spiraling stairs led upwards and more stairs led down, along with a hallway leading straight ahead. Before I could analyze any longer we were being pushed down the stairs going to the basement.

We finally arrived in a gray room where about ten other girls were huddled in the corner, their faces streaked with dirt, their clothes a pile of rags. Suddenly one of the men that had been in the truck was undoing our chains and as soon as my hands were free I desperately tried to summon fire, water, earth or air but none of them would come. I turned my arm to look at my veins and saw them to be a dark grey colour. Trying not to groan in frustration, I knew I barely had enough Life Source in me to make it through the night; certainly not enough for my Ability.

However, once the man had moved away from me I attempted a swift kick to his side, but suddenly two other men were behind me and pulling me backwards, and even though I desperately tried to break free, I knew that I wouldn't succeed.

The woman who had opened the door earlier walked over to me and I saw she was holding a small needle and syringe filled with some sort of strange liquid. "Now, honey," she whispered quietly, and I shrunk back slightly as she came even closer, touching the needle point to my neck. "This should help."

As soon as the needle was pressed into my neck I gave a little gasp and I could see the other girls staring at me with tight expressions like they knew what was going on but I didn't…

My thoughts clouded over and I felt myself crashing to the floor before I could even reply.

Just like last time, I woke up to somebody nudging my shoulder. "Honestly," someone whispered. "Why are  _you_  always the one who's unconscious?"

"Because I'm special," I grunted as I opened my eyes and sat up slowly. The first thing I did was look at my veins, and surprisingly, they were back to being a normal colour.

I looked up to see about fifteen girls around me. The only ones here that had rode in with me was Silk and Mia (of course. Something about her just made me so  _angry_ ) and the rest were here before. "Did that injection have Life Source…?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah," one girl replied. She didn't even look at me while she was speaking, but I couldn't find myself caring. "Just enough for a couple days, then they inject you again."

"What, do they mix sedative in with it?" I groaned, rubbing the back of my neck to feel the injection point.

Another girl chuckled slightly. "Nah. We don't know what it is. But it does stop you from using your Ability. And you can't hurt our captors."

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "Of course we can  _hurt_  them!"

"No," the same girl replied, locking her dull blue eyes with mine. "If you try, you get an electric shock. Somehow."

"Well," I said, trying to keep calm and figure out other ways of escape, "Where did the others go?"

I was met with sixteen grim expressions. "They're dead," someone said bluntly. "Or a male worker took them to be used. And then killed."

I didn't have to ask what "used" meant. "So why are we still alive…?"

"To be sold!" someone said. "Why else? We're considered 'good candidates' or something, and the rest didn't measure up."

I let myself feel a small pang of sadness and grief for the others, and then I pushed them aside because I knew they would already be dead and there was nothing I could do.

But I knew that could've easily been me.

And, for some reason, it wasn't Mia.

"So we just stay here?" I asked. "And do what? Sit around all day?"

"Yes," someone answered. "Yes, until we're bought. Because that's what they make us do. And once we're bought, we'll have to stay with those people. And we don't get a choice in the matter."

I nodded grimly.

Like I said.

We look at the silver linings, or we don't have any to find.

That night, as the rest of the girls were sleeping, sudden whimpers broke through the calm and silence.

I turned my head to the right, able to see Mia shaking and sobbing with the electric light on the ceiling that didn't seem to be able to turn off.

I had half a mind to go comfort her. She looked so small, so fragile, so easy to break. Maybe she was already broken. She'd probably lived through hell in her life already, and I had no right to judge.

But then the other part of me knew she had to be stronger than that. It ticked me off. She was still alive, the mess that she was, and the other girls - Night, Lore, Thorn, probably Amber at this point, everyone else who had ever died in the Slums before their time - were gone.

So I stared at her and whispered, careful not to wake anybody, "Could you just  _shut up_ , for god's sake!"

The whimpers stopped and I saw her eyes slide over to stare at me but her head didn't turn. Rage consuming me, I continued, "Nobody cares, okay? We've all been through a lot worse than this. So just  _stop_. I'm sick and tired of you being a weak mess. Wise up and shut up, got it?"

A stiff nod came from Mia and then she turned over, not looking at me any longer.

Yeah, it was harsh.

No, I didn't care.

The day we were bought was an interesting one.

It was exactly three weeks after we'd all first been brought to the slavery, and I hadn't left the basement once. We'd all been trying to stay active the best we could so when we got out of there we'd actually be able to function, but still, leaving that room felt like a strange concept.

The woman I'd first seen when I'd arrived (the same one who always gave us injections. I had indeed learned that you do in fact get shocked if you try to fight) marched into the room, followed by two ordinary looking people. They were obviously married, and they carried themselves with grace and elegance I'd seldom seen.

"We're looking for two young girls," the man was explaining. He had chestnut eyes and sandy hair. The girl's eyes were an olive green, but her hair was bleached blonde with pink streaks, a combination I really didn't like. "Girls that could go to high school, perhaps?"

The woman nodded. I had yet to learn her name, and I was puzzling over what it could be - Suzie? Joan? Buffy? - when she grabbed my wrist and hauled me to my feet, scanning me over, much like she did on the first day. "She's a good match," the woman concluded.

The man nodded, clearly satisfied, when his wife pointed at… _Mia._ "She looks good, too."

God no. My life would just be so ironic if Mia was bought with me. "You're right, Mrs. Perkins," the woman said. "She is good. Is that all?"

I looked at Mia, my mouth open in shock. She refused to look at me and allowed herself to be limply pulled to her feet by the woman.

The man - what, Mr. Perkins? What kind of name was that? - nodded and handed her some paper that seemed to have no meaning whatsoever and then before I could even say a word I was hauled out of the room.

I cast one look backwards, and I found my eyes catching Silk's. She and I had become good friends over the time we'd been captured, and I would hate to say goodbye to her, but I didn't have a choice. She was just like everyone else that had left. I was so used to people leaving it was just second nature to me.

She gave me a quick nod of farewell before I was pushed up the stairs and she was lost from my sight.

I stopped paying attention as I was taken outside. The light almost blinded me and I squinted and felt myself being pushed inside some kind of vehicle and then the door was shut and locked and I was trapped.

With wimpy, terrified, scared, silly, stupid, idiotic  _Mia._

As the vehicle - some kind of large car, but it wasn't large enough to be a truck - revved up and drove away from the mansion house, all I could think was,

_When will it end?_

 


	4. Chapter Three

Hey, everyone. Mia here.  
Sorry to disappoint. I realize at this point you don't think too highly of me, do you? Yeah…I didn't think so.  
Well, maybe I can change your mind.  
I grew up with my dad and brother in the Slums. They both taught me how to defend myself, but I didn't like fighting. I found it pointless. I mean, why couldn't we all just get along? Wouldn't the world be so much simpler?  
When I was eleven, my brother Changed during the night, while we were all sleeping. Neither me or my dad knew he hadn't had any Life Source, so it was a bit of a shock when I woke up to see him covered in black tattoos, wrapping his hand around my dad's neck.  
I killed him.  
The men who kidnapped me killed my dad when they took me. So yeah, I think I have an excuse for being a bit of a wimp, okay?  
But anyways. Enough about me.  
'Cause you probably don't even care.  
The car drove down countless roads, passing several people on the street who seemed happy. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt happy. After everything that had happened to me, some emotions were just so foreign.  
Finally we arrived at another large house (they were all too big). There wasn't anything special about it - the walls were white, vinyl siding, the roof had light brown shingles, the windows plain glass. The driveway seemed large enough for two cars, and the lawn swooped on either side, coated in natural flowers and a couple trees.  
We turned into the driveway, and we came to a large panel in the outside that seemed different than the rest of the building, almost like a really big door. The man, Mr. Perkins, reached up and tapped a small black button on the roof of his car, and immediately the door thing let out a rumbling noise and lifted up into the wall above, revealing a sort of cavern, which we drove into a parked.  
"What the…" I couldn't help but exclaim, staring behind us as the door lowered down and cut out the light.  
"It's a garage," Faith sighed, like I was a moron.  
I shot her a small glare. Honestly, what had I done?  
"Get out," Mrs. Perkins barked, her whole kind demeanor gone, replaced with a fierce scowl. I quickly remembered how to open the door and I slid out of the car, quietly closing the door behind me. Mr. Perkins was already over by a white door that I assumed led into the house. He pushed it open and motioned for us to follow him inside.  
The lobby was huge, with white tiled floor and gray walls. Picture frames of flowers and people coated the walls. We were dragged up a flight of wooden stairs, until Faith was suddenly jerked away from me and taken into a room to the right, while Mr. Perkins took me left. I didn't really care.  
Mr. Perkins pushed me into the room, which turned out to be a bedroom. A large white bed dominated the space, surrounded by three dressers and one bookshelf, a desk with some kind of mirror on top of it, and a closet. The walls had posters all over them of teenage boys that I had never seen before; they all looked very spoiled and posh, anyway.  
"Take off your clothes," Mr. Perkins said, clicking his tongue and giving me a disapproving look. "And change into some of the ones in the dressers."  
I raised an eyebrow, but I shrugged, and immediately began taking my shirt off. "Wait," he barked, and I froze mid-action. "You just failed your first test. Girls in Elysium won't change in front of boys or men."  
I didn't say anything, but I waited for him to turn around before I stripped off my shirt, and then I moved to the dresser closest to me. So many clothes lay inside; it really did baffle me how different Elysium was. I ended up grabbing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, because we had those kinds of things in the Slums as well, and I knew them.  
"Okay," I said quietly and Mr. Perkins turned back around, his face still conveying displeasure.  
"Alright," he said. "Let me get straight to business, okay?"  
I nodded, though he really didn't care if it was okay or not.  
"We did not buy you to be a maid. We did not buy you for any back-breaking work at all, which you probably expected. No; we bought you to be our daughter."  
I blinked once in surprise, but I didn't dare say a word.  
Mr. Perkins bit his lip and shook his head. "Let me rephrase that. We bought you to pretend to be our daughters. Our adopted daughters, to be exact. You were born in Elysium, and your parents died in a freak car accident, alright?" he said. I nodded again, taking in the information. It wasn't like I could disobey him. I had nowhere else to go, so escaping wasn't an option, either.  
"You are going to go to high school. You are going to live here, and call us mom and dad. You are going to pretend that this life is normal, and if something confuses you, or if you don't know how to operate a piece of technology, then you simply say "at home, we still have an older model. My parents like antiques."  
I didn't know what "antiques" meant, but I nodded.  
"Me and my wife are involved in things that we shouldn't be," he finished. "And we need to pose as a normal family to avoid suspicion. Got it?"  
"Yes," I said meekly.  
"Good," he said. "This is your bedroom. We've given you a phone, tablet, and school programs. Do whatever you like until dinner."  
"John!" Mrs. Perkins yelled from across the hall. "Come help me with dinner."  
"I'll be right there!" Mr. Perkins, or John, yelled back. He walked towards the door, and just when he was about to close it, he turned to me and said, "And your name is now Perkins. What's your first name? Do you have one?"  
"Mia," I told him.  
"Well, hello, Mia Perkins," he said. "Have a happy life."  
And then he shut the door, and he was gone.

Dinner was uneventful.  
They made this kind of Life Source tablet called "Steak." It looked the same as the Life Source that I was used to, but it tasted strange, and apparently you actually had to put the Life Source on an "oven" and "cook" it.  
I would never understand Elysium.  
In the evening, we were taken to be registered in the high school. On the car ride over, it was explained to me that you went there and learned things about history and geography and math. I told them I was 16 when they asked, and they said that would be Level Ten, but I was so far behind they'd put me in the Special Needs Level.  
They asked me if I could read. I couldn't, and neither could Faith, so they made up a story that we were both "dyslexic" and just slow learners in general.  
They didn't have to make it up, 'cause it was probably true.  
The high school staff were nice enough. We were registered, no problem, and told to start school tomorrow by going to room Thirteen, with the other Special Needs kids.  
I was not thrilled, and Faith was quite obviously not happy that we were going to spend all day together.  
I wasn't, either.

The start of the school day came all too quickly for me.  
Faith purposefully shoved me into the wall just to get ahead of me so she wouldn't be seen with me. I could've pushed back, or fought back, but there wasn't any point.  
So without a choice, I walked into room Thirteen, and saw only a couple other people in there - Faith being one of them, and another boy was sitting a couple rows behind her. He smiled slightly at me, so I slid into a seat next to him.  
"The name's Josiah," he said, offering me a hand just as a piercing bell rang, apparently signaling the beginning of a school day. "Nice to meet you."  
"You too," I said quietly, because I knew if Faith heard me socializing, she'd just hate me more, and I really wanted her to like me, but I didn't know why. "I'm Mia." I didn't get a chance to say more, though, because just then a man walked in, wearing a suit, tie, and his hair was neatly combed back.  
"Welcome, Faith and Mia Perkins," the man said. "I'm Mr. Smith, and I'm your teacher."  
He went on explaining how he was here to help us, and if we had any questions to ask him, and not to be afraid to get help if we didn't know the answer. It was obvious Faith wasn't listening to a word he was saying, and that infuriated me - we were in a new environment with completely different rules, the worst she could do was not pay attention!  
Of course, her mind was probably focused on escaping and returning to the Slums. Maybe she left somebody behind there.  
But nobody leaves Elysium once they get there.  
Just like how it was a miracle that I got out of the Slums in the first place.  
Mr. Smith called Faith to his desk first, and it sounded like he was trying to get her to read, but she wouldn't even talk to him. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Perkins would not be pleased.  
But, Josiah and I got some time to talk, at least. I learned he possessed a Time Ability, which are extremely rare. About one in a thousand people have one. Really, he was able to travel short distances in time, even stop time if he had enough Life Source, but he said that he didn't very often because it was extremely dangerous.  
I told him I had a Mental Ability (I could move things with my mind and read mind, but the latter was more taxing and overwhelming, so I preferred not to do it), and, remembering the story Mr. Perkins had told me, said that I was just adopted and my parents had died in a freak car crash. He nodded and asked if I was dyslexic, and when I said yes, his lips pursed and he whispered quietly, "Read my mind."  
'Are you from the Slums?' he thought, and my eyes widened and I gave a sharp nod.  
"Right," he said. 'Have you thought of…escaping? Going back?'  
I shook my head and whispered, "No way through the Factory."  
'They brought us here somehow, didn't they?' he replied, and nothing else could be said, because then Faith plopped back down into her seat and I was called over.  
I tried to read, I really did, but I had absolutely no idea how to, so let's just say the lesson was a disaster.  
As were the rest of them.  
Faith laughed out loud when Mr. Smith asked me to count as high as I could and I made it to thirty before going, "Thirty-one…thirty-something…"  
"Thirty-two," Faith said like it was obvious. I glared at her.  
"Well, then, Faith," Mr. Smith said, staring at her. "Why don't you continue on?"  
Faith blinked at him, surprised, and that made me laugh slightly, so I suppose it all worked out.

Everything went normal throughout the entire day, and for a moment I thought maybe today things would be fine, but of course, I was wrong.  
As soon as we stepped out of room Thirteen, we were surrounded by five tall, strong looking boys. They had to be Level Twelve, or possibly Eleven by the looks of them. Josiah didn't seem stunned like Faith and I were - it was like he knew what was going to happen.  
"Well," one of the boys said, "If it isn't the mental class."  
"Shane," Josiah sighed, "I know what you're going to do, so can you just get it over with?"  
Shane shrugged, exchanging some looks with his friends. "Well, alright. If you want to be so direct."  
All my time in the Slums should've prepared me, but, it didn't - instead I jumped a little in surprise when Shane's fist came out swinging and landed a blow right in Josiah's face.  
Faith may not have been the nicest person, but I had to admire her reflexes - as soon as Shane drew his hand away and his buddies began to step forward, she grabbed his fist and began to twist his arm, stomping her foot down on his foot as well. Letting out a cry, he motioned for his four friends to take us out.  
I knew Faith couldn't take them all, and although I hated fighting, I had to help her.  
I really wish I could describe this part in a bit more detail than I am, because now that I think about it, it's actually quite crucial. I suppose I have Shane to thank for a lot of things.  
But really, I ran to take on two of the four guys, leaving Faith with the other two, and all I felt was a rush of adrenaline as I quickly knocked out the first guy and the second. They were quite easy targets - having grown up in Elysium, where you don't fight, unless you really, really wanted to.  
Students were staring at us, but I didn't care. I turned to Faith to see her staring at me, wonder in her eyes. "You can fight?"  
Ignoring Josiah, who kept wanting to say something, I simply said, "You know, we're not as different as you might think."  
I turned away, picked up the books I had tossed on the floor, and walked "home."

Later that night, when Mr. and Mrs. Perkins were off in their room and I was frowning over homework, Faith joined me.  
She didn't say anything for a while, and I didn't even look at her - I just continued on my math problems. She didn't deserve attention yet.  
"Maybe…maybe I was wrong," she finally said, and that got me to turn around.  
"Maybe you were," I replied. "About what, though?"  
She stared at me like I was an idiot. "You."  
I nodded once. "Okay."  
"I'm trying to apologize," she said, obviously frustrated with me, and half of me felt guilty for being mean, but the other half couldn't care less.  
"I know," I replied. "But I'm sorry if I don't suck up to you right away, after all you've done."  
"I thought you were weak," she said simply. "That you didn't deserve to live. I thought the others, like Night, Lore, and Thorn deserved it more."  
"I had my reasons," I said, shrugging. "And I'm sure you had yours for being inapproachable."  
She blinked, stunned. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
A small smile crept upon my lips, although I didn't know why. "When I'm grieving, I need comfort. When you grieve, you need anything but."  
She stared at me for a long time, and I held her gaze. We remained like that for a solid five minutes before she stood and said, "Well, I think we understand each other."  
"I think we do," I replied. "Doesn't mean we're comfortable, though, does it?"  
She shrugged, moving towards the door. "Not yet, I suppose."  
I chuckled. "Maybe soon, yeah?"  
For the first time, she smiled. She was gorgeous when she smiled. "Maybe soon."  
And then she was gone, and I couldn't help but think something had just changed, something important.  
But I didn't know what.

 


	5. Chapter Four

**Mia**

Two months passed.

And man, did the world change. 

Faith started talking to me more, which was a miracle in itself. I didn’t know she was capable of being nice, to be honest. I’m still not sure what was going through her head at that point, but she gradually began to talk to me. 

Confession time: I really liked the way her voice sounded. 

About a month after, people started getting sick. Apparently, in Elysium, the flu is about as sick as anybody gets. So when a mass of people suddenly came down with a  cold, the government was on high alert. Faith and I found this extremely weird, as in the Slums people got all sorts of strange diseases from the rats, but we went along with it. We waited for the symptoms to die down, but they never did. 

Instead, in the middle of a lesson, Josiah (who’d been sick for about three weeks) had a seizure. 

This is something new in Elysium. I’d never seen one, I’d only heard of them, but people got scared. More sick patients started having seizures and nosebleeds, and then the discovery was made. 

Elementals and Mentals were immune. 

At that point, it was a total mystery. But one by one, the people with a Time, Substance, or Physical Ability caught the “Plague” and started having seizures. 

And then Josiah and others went into comas. 

I didn’t know what happened to him after that, but I figured he was dead, because others were dying. 

Essentially, there was an outbreak of something. 

There was on night, around the time where people were really panicking, that I remember quite well. Faith and I were sitting on my bed in my room, and she didn’t have to be there, but for some reason, she chose to be. “Why aren’t we getting sick?” I’d asked her. 

“I’m an Elemental,” she told me, not looking at me, but staring out the window. She rarely looked at me when she spoke, but that was okay. If she was turned away I could see how her hair fell neatly around her back and how her eyes seemed to get this far away look to them like she was always dreaming. “You’re a Mental. That means we’re immune, remember?”

“Yeah, but why?” 

“I don’t know. Does it matter?”

Maybe that was why we fought often. I needed to know things; she needed to do things. 

I’m still not sure why, but the image of her staring out at the moonlight just stays in my mind, even now, and I know I’ll never forget it. 

About two weeks after that is when it happened. 

The ironic thing, in my opinion, was that the sun was high in the sky, birds were flying and chirping overhead, and everything just seemed so peaceful. It didn’t look like anything was wrong. 

 And I wasn’t even the one to hear it. 

“What was that?” Faith was suddenly yelling, jumping up from the yard we were sitting in, outside the Perkins’ house. It wasn’t our house. It would never be our house. 

“What?” I asked, staring up at her. She looked really mighty and impressive, silhouetted against the sun. 

“I heard a scream…”

Then I heard it, too. An ear-splitting howl tore through the air, but it wasn’t a regular scream; it was many cries, all in the same tone, in the same key, at the same time. “It’s a war cry,” Faith realized a second before I did. 

And then a man was racing down the street, and when he saw us, he changed his course to approach us. We both backed up out of caution, because the man’s front was drenched in blood and his veins were almost black as night. I knew he would Change in a matter of hours, or the next time he fell asleep. 

“He’s a guard,” Faith whispered, as if the realization was haunting. I didn’t understand until she elaborated, “Look at his uniform. He’s a guard to the Cage.”

“How’d he get here?” I asked. In case you’ve forgotten, the Cage is where all of the Changed - all of them - were kept, the single door guarded by about ten men, all with Physical Abilities to make them stronger. “Did he go through the Factory…? Why is he not at the Cage…?”

“Please!” we heard as the guard came closer, staggering like a great weight was on his shoulders. “Please, they’re coming…”

Before he even got to us, he collapsed on the ground, and it was only then that we saw the knife sticking out of his back. 

“Who’s coming?” I asked, just as another cry split the air in two; but I had been right the first time. It wasn’t one scream, no, it was many. 

“Wait a second,” Faith whispered, doing nothing to help the guard - but, to be fair, neither was I. “If you’re supposed to be guarding the Cage…who’s guarding it now?”

Faith and I both looked at each other as realization dawned on us slowly. “The Changed,” I whispered, but Faith already knew. We could hear them coming - the ticks and hisses of their language drifted through the air until they reached our ears. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. 

I always knew it would happen. The Changed were finally breaking out. 

“I see one,” Faith said, standing up and backing away from the guard. “C’mon. Let’s go!”

“We can’t just leave him!” I cried. I knew the guard was done for, but still - he was a human being. He probably had a family. Just because he came from Elysium didn’t mean we should treat him badly. But Faith was right - I could see several Changed making their way down the street, some of them going into houses, dragging people outside and swarming them, probably hoping to Change them. 

“We can’t help him!” Faith yelled. Some of the Changed had seen us, and they were running over, snarling, and making clicking noises that I couldn’t understand. 

“But-”

“Mia, come on!” Her hand closed around my wrist and yanked me away from the guard. He was probably already dead, but I still didn’t want to just leave him in the middle of a street. But then I remembered. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Perkins,” I gasped, pulling out of her grip. “They’re still inside.”

“We can’t help them, either!” The Changed were closing in on us, but I wouldn’t let anyone die when there was something I could do to stop it. “Mia, why do you care?”

“I just do,” I stated, and then - as hard as it was - I turned away from Faith and ran into the house. I heard her cry out behind me, but I didn’t look back, and she didn’t follow me. It hurt, but I didn’t stop running. 

“Mr. Perkins!” I yelled as loud as I could, slamming the door behind me. “Mrs. Perkins! We’ve got to go! Now!”

The growls of the Changed intensified from outside, and I knew I had to leave, but I couldn’t find the Perkins’. They weren’t responding, either. But they couldn’t have gone anywhere. 

I ran upstairs, finding their bedroom, and rushing through the door, but I stopped as soon as I saw them. Mrs. Perkins was on the floor, her body shaking and convulsing - Mr. Perkins was lying beside her, his eyes closed, and I wasn’t sure if he was breathing. The Plague had taken them both out. I was here for nothing. 

After a few hard breaths, I managed to turn away from them, and I booked it out of the house. Maybe I could even catch up to Faith. But as I landed on the bottom stair, the door to the house flew open, and it wasn’t Faith. 

One of the Changed burst through the door, hissing and clicking. It saw me instantly, its black eyes zooming in on my face. There was nowhere for me to hide. Another Changed followed the first one, and like lightning, they were next to me, grabbing at my wrists. One of their fingernails scratched my hand before I managed to gather my wits and run, faster than I ever had before. 

“Stop!” I yelled, finding myself in the kitchen. “Please, stop!” I couldn’t tell if they didn’t understand or they just didn’t care, but they kept coming. A few more piled in through the open door and they began moving like a pack, searching for the best way to take me down. 

There was one window in the kitchen, and I knew it was my only hope. The latch was already undone, so I yanked it open and began climbing out of it, fingernails already scratching at my legs. One of them almost grabbed me before I hauled myself out of the window and fell into the yard below. 

My ankle twisted on the landing but I got up anyway, desperately trying to find the best way out. Some of the Changed were trying to claw their way through the window, but they were unsuccessful at it - too many wanted out at once. I picked a direction and ran before they figured out how to leave. 

The pain in my ankle intensified but I kept going, ignoring the stinging in my whole body. Maybe I could catch up with Faith. I blindly turned corners, unsure of where I was going - everything looked the same in Elysium. 

Except, I picked the wrong corner and ran right into the arms of a Changed. 

I yelped and it snarled, surprised to find me there. Immediately I tried to get away but it recovered its senses first, holding my arms tightly and pulling me towards it, not letting me go. It yanked me forwards and towards more clicking sounds and I knew I was done for. It was taking me to more Changed. 

We turned a corner, and even though there was nothing I could do I kept screaming, hoping someone would hear me, but there was nothing. Nobody came, not even Faith, but I didn’t expect her to. 

More Changed appeared and circled me. I had Mental powers - that meant I couldn’t be Changed. It was just impossible. But what would happen to me? I tried to use my Mental powers, just to see if it would effect them negatively, but I couldn’t concentrate. Too many bodies were around me and I couldn’t see, I couldn’t see…

Blackness surrounded me, literally and figuratively, as someone pushed me to the ground and my eyes closed. 

*****

“Mia. Mia. Wake up!”

I groaned, light coming through my eyelids. Even in my state, I could tell that voice apart from anyone - they’d caught Faith, too. “Thought you were better than me,” escaped my lips quietly, and although I regretted it, she didn’t appear to take it personally. 

“Yeah, well,” she sighed. I opened my eyes to find her sitting next to me. We were outdoors, in a field of sorts, and a few other people were around us, talking in hushed whispers. But I could still hear clicking. I turned my head and saw masses and masses of Changed, roaming around, but mainly staying around a large fire. I could see a forest about half a mile out, and large walls the other direction. 

We were on the other side of the Cage. The one that had opened, freeing all of these Changed. 

“What are they doing with us?” I asked, my eyes fixed on the Changed. They looked so happy, so free, I couldn’t be scared by them. 

“I think,” Faith said slowly, “I think they want us to Change.”

I couldn’t help it - I gave a little laugh. “Um,” I scoffed, “We can’t. Elemental and Mental people can’t Change. It’s just how it is.”

“No,” Faith said slowly, “Not before, anyway.”

I narrowed my eyes, sitting up so I was level with her. “What do you mean, before?”

“The Plague, Mia,” she said quietly, like she was afraid to say those words, like she didn’t want them to be true. “The Plague. We didn’t get sick. Neither did the other people here. But all the guards who were at the Cage did - and there was no one left to guard it, so they all got free. And now, the Changed want everyone else Changed. I think.”

“We still can’t Change.”

“Yeah, but, think about it. The Elemental and Mental people were immune to Changing, permanently, at least. And the Plague didn’t make us sick. But we still got it. It still must have done something.”

Realization dawned on me and I really wish it hadn’t. “We can Change now?”

Faith nodded grimly. “They’re going to keep us here. Then they’re going to starve us of the Life Source. And then, we’re going to Change, and there will be no one else left.”


End file.
